


What I Need

by 50shadesofsubtext



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Asexual Castiel (Supernatural), Asexual Supernatural Mini Bang 2017-18, Doctor Charlie Bradbury, F/F, F/M, Family Dinners, Family Fluff, Fluff, Lawyer Sam Winchester, M/M, Nurse Castiel, Nurse Jessica Moore, Paramedic Benny Lafitte, Paramedic Dean Winchester, Paramedic Jo Harvelle, Pizza Man/Babysitter Porn in the Background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-05 00:11:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14604834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/50shadesofsubtext/pseuds/50shadesofsubtext
Summary: Dean is a paramedic that works at the firehouse near the hospital. When the new nurse, Cas, is hired at the hospital, the paramedics, nurses, doctors, and other hospital staff try to win him over, but when he is uninterested in everyone, they come together to hook him up with Dean.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to my artist [Impalartsociopath](http://impalartsociopath.tumblr.com) for his AMAZING art!!! It is beautiful!!! Check it out [here](http://impalartsociopath.tumblr.com/post/173902017745/art-masterpost-for-the-fic-what-i-need-by%0A)!!!
> 
> Also huge thank you to my alpha and beta readers, [saltnhalo](http://saltnhalo.tumblr.com), [lotrspnfangirl](https://lotrspnfangirl.tumblr.com), and [so-many-lines](http://so-many-lines.tumblr.com)!!! You all were amazing and any remaining issues are mine alone
> 
> The title comes from the Hayley Kiyoko song of the same name.

“Hey, Brother,” Benny asked, “when are you gonna see that girl again?”

Dean didn’t even raise his eyes to look at Benny. He grabbed an IV line and carefully stuck the girl’s arm until he got a flash of blood. “We’re talking about this now, dude?” He taped the line down and flushed it with saline before pushing diazepam.

The siren on the ambulance was loud enough that they had to raise their voices, and Jo spoke up from the front seat, “She was cute! You gotta ask her out again!”

The girl’s seizure finally stopped. Twenty-five minutes. “I’m a little busy right now.”

“Yeah, we’re all busy, Dean,” Jo laughed. “But what’s the point of it all if we don’t have some fun while we’re here?”

Dean didn’t bother to answer. He didn’t need to. They girl last night was cute, and dinner had been good. There was no harm in letting everyone think he’d gone home with her.

The same thing had happened on his last few dates, he had a great time, but when it came time to bring them up to his apartment or go to theirs, he just kissed them goodnight and told them he’d call. (He never did.)

They pulled up to the emergency entrance and Dean jumped out to glide the stretcher out of the van. Charlie waited for them outside with two nurses.

“Fifteen-year-old female,” Dean told her. “Seizure upon arrival, administered the first dose of diazepam intramuscularly in the the field and second dose intravenously en route. Seizure lasted twenty-five minutes, history of epilepsy.”

Dean and Benny followed Charlie into the examination room and waited to see if the girl would wait up. Meg walked past him and set up a telemetry monitor. Benny chuckled when Meg pointedly ignored Dean.

Dean asked, “Did her heart rate stable out?”

Meg turned and said sarcastically, “Oh, sorry Dean-o, didn’t see you there.”

Dean huffed out a breath, “Her heart rate?” It had been over a month since he took Meg out for dinner and a movie. She wanted him to go up to her apartment, and when Dean turned her down, she got pretty upset. She’d done her best to avoid him since then.

“Stable,” she told him before turning back around.

“Right,” Dean said under his breath. He turned back to Charlie, “Good luck!” He walked back out of the room and almost considered going upstairs to say hi to Jess working in the NICU, but a call from Chief Singer came over his radio.

He filled out paperwork on the way back to the firehouse. “Did either of you meet the new nurse in peds?” Jo asked. “He stayed out here and talked to me and, _goddamn_ , he has sex hair and baby-blues, and I swear he could—”

Dean cut her off with a cough, and Benny laughed at them, “Sounds like you have a little crush, Bon ami.”

“Yeah, well I’m not the only one,” Jo told them. “Charlie said she would go straight for someone like him.”

Benny shook his head, “If Bradbury wouldn’t go straight for Chris Pine, she wouldn’t go straight for this guy. No way he is hotter.”

“Yeah, but Chris Pine never held babies around her.”

Dean laughed. He was used to their banter, and he could name every single one of Jo’s crushes since they started working together. He always tried not to get involved, but usually, they pulled him into their conversation. “Dean,” Jo said, “You can testify. Guys holding babies are a hundred times hotter.”

He wasn’t sure the fastest way out of the conversation, so just just agreed, “Yeah, sure thing.”

Jo smiled at Benny and he just threw up his hands, “I wouldn’t know. My chere is the only one I got eyes for.”

“Benny,” Jo told him, “Everyone is a little gay. You can’t honestly tell me you never looked at a guy and kinda wanted to lick his face.”

Even Dean couldn’t stay quiet for that one and he wrinkled his nose. “That is disgusting. I’ve never wanted to do that.”

“Yeah, okay, but you’re a germaphobe,” she said as she pulled into the firehouse bay. He couldn’t argue it, it made him a great paramedic.

Benny made a huge pot of chicken and andouille gumbo for everyone when nothing exciting happened during the last few hours of their shift. Dean texted Charlie at the end of the day to see if she wanted to get a drink.

 _“8:30. The Roadhouse. Bring the gang”_ she replied.

He passed the message on to Benny and Jo and sent texts to Sam and Jess. Benny refused to let him go back to the “sad, little apartment,” and made him stay for the gumbo.

Dean drove Jo and Benny to the bar where Charlie and Dorothy already had a table in the corner and were leaning forward talking to Jess. The Roadhouse was ran by Ellen, Jo’s mom, and it was everyone’s favorite bar. It was a small, underground type bar. Ellen ran the restaurant and Ash ran the bar. Benny and Jo went straight to the counter to order while Dean bee-lined his way to the corner.

Dean leaned over Jess’ baby bump to kiss her cheek and slid into the booth beside her. “How’s the little rugrat today?” he asked, patting his hand on the bump.

“Sitting on my bladder and kicking my ribs,” Jess said with a pout.

“Little monkey, be nice to your momma,” he said to the bump, waving his finger like the baby could see him.

“Careful handmaiden, Charlie said, “your teddy bear side is showing.”

He gave his best Blue Steel to the other side of the table. “Bite me. Three months till I’m an uncle.” He smiled to himself at the thought of a baby that would cuddle up on his chest or in his arms.

Ellen brought over a pitcher of IPA with glasses and a ginger ale for Jess. Dorothy gave her a questioning look, “Still not feeling well?” As the Chief of Trauma, Dorothy always worried about the immediate symptoms in medicine.

Charlie looked at Dorothy next to her, “No, she’s dehydrated. We gave her an IV yesterday when she couldn’t stop throwing up.” Jess looked betrayed that Charlie told them, but Dean and Dorothy both gave her concerned looks. “You’re lucky I didn’t ask Flagstaff to put you on bedrest,” Charlie told her.

Jess rolled her eyes. Charlie was the Chief of Pediatrics and Flagstaff was Jess’ boss in the NICU. Charlie took a protective role over Jess when she started last year, and had become almost motherly since Jess got pregnant. “Guys, the third trimester is usually the best for morning sickness, plus I’m down to two shifts a week. Plus,” he added to Charlie, “your cute new almost-RN sat with me the entire time.”

Sam leaned over Jess from the back of the booth. “Should I be jealous?”

Jess reached up to grab her husband’s hand and kissed it, “Nah, babe, I’m pretty sure he’s gay.”

Charlie’s head popped up with a questioning look on her face, “You think so? He didn’t set off my gaydar.”

“I don’t know, I just assumed,” Jess looked almost ashamed for assuming his sexuality. “I mean, he turned down Meg. And Jolene from trauma. And Athena from the morgue. Even Pam from cardio.”

Charlie pierced her lips together, forehead wrinkling in thought. “But he turned down Eddie from nephrology. And Marcus from psych. God, he even turned down Marty from medical.” She looked at her wife in question. “Do you know?”

Dean was surprised the guy got around so much. He must be super attractive for all of those people asking him out.

“You should set him up with Dean,” Sam winked at his brother, “he can get into anyone’s pants.”

The three girls giggled, but Dean wasn’t sure why. He guessed he’d been on more dates recently, but he never slept with anyone he went out with. “Whatever you say, little brother.”

Charlie looked like she had a revelation, though. “Oh, Dean, you have to meet him! He is dreamy. I can’t wait until he graduates and I can snatch him up for peds.”

“Sure, you and every other department in that place will fight you over him, “ Jess said. “Every doctor he’s worked with wants him.”

Jo sat a tray of hot wings and another of potato skins on the edge of the table. Dean reached for a potato and ate it whole, ignoring the burn from the hot grease.

“He’s in my department last, so I can tell him to pick me,” Charlie said with a smile and Dorothy shook her head and pulled her wife a little closer. 

“You guys talking about the new guy?” Jo asked and Dean groaned.

“Sammy and Charlie think I should marry him,” Dean deadpanned to her.

Jo ignored Sam’s protests and sat next to Dorothy to lean across the table. “Oh, you totally should! Who doesn’t want a guy that fixes babies?”

Dean chose to ignore Dorothy, lean over and kiss Charlie’s cheek and tried to blow the whole discussion off. “What’s his name anyway?”

“Castiel,” Charlie and Jess said together.

Castiel. That wasn’t a hot, smart guys name. That was a hippy, white-guy-with-dreadlocks type name. “Castiel?”

“It’s not what you think,” Jess said, “he’s clean cut and shaved.”

“Yeah,” Charlie added, “he’s sorta quiet, but the kids really love him.”

Dean let out a huff of air, but found his way out of the conversation. “Fine, I guess you can point him out next time I’m there.” Charlie, Jess, and Jo all beamed like he made their day and Dorothy just looked mildly amused that the other girls made such a big deal out of it.

Dean glanced to the bar and saw Ash pouring from a tap. “Where’s Benny?”

“Andrea,” she said and the table let out a collective groan. Benny and Andrea were always breaking up and getting back together. He always insisted that they loved each other, but Dean just figured he was too nice to let her go for real.

“Did she cheat on him again?” Dorothy asked.

They nodded, and she shook her head. “Babe,” she said looking at Charlie, “if you ever cheat on me I will kill you.”

Charlie leaned over and kissed her. “Same.”

A couple rounds into the night, Dean and Jo went to check on Benny and found him crying outside the front door.  

“She left me,” Benny said. “She said my brother is a better _lay_.”

Jo wrapper an arm around his shoulders while sneering, “That’s disgusting.”

Dean agreed, “Come have a drink with us. Forget about her.”

Benny looked up at them like her was willing them to understand and finally just shook his head. “Thanks, brother, but I don’t want to bring everyone down. I’m just gonna head home.”

“Yeah, okay, let me grab my—”

“I called a cab,” Benny said holding up his phone. “Go enjoy yourself.”

Dean looked at Jo, questioning if they should let him go home alone, and Jo looked back down at Benny. “I’ll go with you. We can drink wine coolers and and watch trashy reality TV.”

Benny let out a huff of laughter that let Dean know he would be grateful for the company. Dean waited to go back inside until Benny and Jo had drove away. When he came back in, Charlie and Dorothy had made a dance floor in the middle of the room and were dancing on either side of Ash while “Girls, Girls, Girls” played on the jukebox.

Sam was still at the table, nursing the last of a beer with Jess asleep against his side. He had an arm slung around her shoulder, holding her close to his side. They looked so ridiculously happy together. He slid into the other side of the booth and took the last hot wing of the tray on the table and poured another beer. Sam gave him a questioning look, “Everything alright out there?”

“Jo took Benny home.”

Sam might have questioned him, but they were all familiar with Benny’s situation and they learned not to ask questions any more. Dean just hoped that this time, the break-up would be final. Sam watched him take a drink before asking, “And you?”

“What about me?” Dean asked without looking up from the table.

“How are you doing?” Sam’s question was so sincere sounding and Dean raised his eyes with a questioning look on his face.

“I’m fine…”

Sam shook his head like Dean didn’t answer the right question. “Nah, uh, how’s your dating life?”

Dean rolled his eyes as he leaned back in the booth and took another drink of the beer. “Why does everyone care so much about my dating life?”

“I just care about you,” Sam said with his placating voice, like he was worried he would spook Dean and not get any type of answer out of him. “What about this _Castiel_ guy?”

Dean sighed. He never wanted to talk about his love life, and especially not with his brother. Sam was married with a baby on the way. He wouldn’t understand Dean’s feelings. Dean didn’t even understand his own feelings. It was like his previous sexual appetite had disappeared and now he had to convince himself he could make it through dates.

“I don’t know, Dude,” Dean finally said for lack of an explanation. “He sounds interesting.”

Sam smiled, “Yeah, he does. Jess can’t stop saying enough good things about him.”

Dean wished it was enough, just someone that sounded interesting. He used to not even care if a person was interesting or not, he would take anyone to bed. “Yeah. I don’t know man, it just doesn’t feel like enough anymore, you know?”

Sam’s mouth twisted up in a corner and concern flicked across his face. “No, I don’t.”

Dean considered letting it go, almost did, but maybe he wanted to talk about it more than he thought. Before he could stop himself he said, “I mean, you and Jess, Charlie and Dorothy, you guys are just so perfect, you know? You are happy and you are really in love, and maybe I just want a piece of what you guys have.”

Dean glanced up from his drink and saw Sam’s eyes wide in surprise, and Dean continued, “I mean, I’m just tired of dating around. I know you guys all think I’m some kind of man whore, but all the dates I go on, I don’t sleep with them. I’m barely even interested in them unless I can picture a relationship out of it, and—”

Sam cut him off, “You’re saying you’re ready to settle down with someone?” He was surprised, but he looked happy at the possibility.

Dean had never thought about it that way. “Maybe? Maybe I just want a better connection with someone before I sleep with them. I don’t know.”

His brother gave him a thoughtful, apologetic look before he nodded, “Okay. I won’t bother you about it again.” They set in silence for a few minutes and let the music from the jukebox wash over them before Jess moved under Sam’s arm and her eyes fluttered open.

“Hey there kiddo,” Dean said with a smile and Jess looked embarrassed that she fell asleep.

“You want to head home?” Sam asked her and she looked at the dancefloor like she felt guilty about wanting to go.

She finally nodded, “I guess the little one needs some sleep.”

Dean smiled at the way Jess blamed the baby, and he said, “I’ll head out with you, I have an early morning.”

“You good to drive?” Sam asked and Dean nodded.

“You?” He asked and Sam nodded. Dean reached out to grab one of Jess’ arms and the three of them walked to the door, waving goodbye to Ellen as they left.

When Dean opened the door for them, Jess smiled and half-heartedly protested, “You know I’m pregnant, not disabled.” Dean just laughed and gave them both hugs and patted the baby bump before walking to the Impala.

The house was dark and empty when he got home. Sam and Jess stopped by the apartment occasionally, but he had pretty much been the only person in the apartment in months. He peaked in the fridge only to find a lone takeout box of soft fries that he tossed in the trash. He set the coffee machine for the morning before heading to his bedroom.

He missed having people in the apartment. He missed living with Sam and Jess. He missed having food in the fridge and people to watch movies with. Now Sam and Jess both had great jobs, a baby on the way, and he didn’t blame them moving out months ago. It made sense that they had a white-picket fence to go with their apple-pie life. He just missed having someone around.

He fell back on the bed and reached for the flask on the bedside table. He set the alarm for 5:00 AM, and took a few drinks of the whiskey, willing himself to go to sleep.

The alarm went off too early in the morning. Dean grabbed his phone, realizing he forgot to plug it in, and cursed himself. He turned on the radio loud enough to hear it in the shower and washed quickly, then changed into his work uniform, grabbing his coffee on the way out the door.

It was the second run to the hospital in the rig when he told Jo and Benny he was going to take a break and take breakfast up to Jess. He went to the cafeteria and bought two breakfast sandwiches, turning to head upstairs when a voice called his name from behind his back. Charlie waved to Dean from across the room and a dark-haired guy in nurse’s scrubs followed beside her.

He wanted to tell Charlie that she needed to do something about the dark circles under her eyes, but the nurse looked up at him and Dean lost his train of thought. Everyone was right; the new guy was hot. He was gorgeous. His hair was ruffled like he just crawled out of bed and had a pencil stuck behind one ear. The v-neck in his scrubs was just enough to show the tan skin on his chest and the medal in the stethoscope matched the necklace around his neck. The blue scrubs matched his baby blue eyes.

Charlie caught one look at Dean’s gawking face and smiled like she won the lottery. “Dean, this is Castiel.”

Dean stammered out a hello and Castiel tilted his head sideways like he didn’t quite understand. Maybe Castiel thought he was crazy. Maybe he was. Castiel’s eyes narrowed just a little, enough to make Dean to feel like he was getting judged, and _god,_ he’d never been this nervous before when he met someone. He was full-on twitterpated and there were butterflies in his stomach.

Charlie let out a little cough and Dean realized they had been staring at each other. Dean glanced sideways to look at his friend, and Charlie looked like she had just seen the face of god herself. “Dean is one of my friends,” she told Castiel and the other man turned to glance at her before looking back to Dean.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

His voice. It was dark and gravelly and mixed with the bed head… Dean wouldn’t mind waking up next to that view every morning. He wasn’t sure where that thought came from, but he made his escape before he could do anything else to embarrass himself. “I gotta, uh,” he held up the food in his hands, “Jess.” Smooth Winchester.

Castiel nodded like he gave a perfectly excuse. “Have a great day, Dean.” He over pronounced Dean’s name like he was repeating it to help him remember it, and that was too adorable. Dean could feel himself blush and didn’t even remember to give Charlie a hug before running to the exit.

Jess sat in the NICU, holding a tiny baby that was at least a month premature and had an oxygen mask covering their face. He knocked on the glass and held up one of the sandwiches when she turned her head. She smiled back and held up a finger that told him to wait. She stood after a minute and put the baby back in the nearest incubator.

“You didn’t have to bring me anything,” she said after she shut the door behind her and hugged him.

“Yeah, but I also know that Sam’s got you on the rabbit food diet, and I know how much you like real food.”

She opened up her sandwich and looked like she was ready to cry at the sausage and bacon. “My shake this morning had so many vitamins, but it looked worse than the poop I wipe off these babies’ butts.”

He laughed and settled against the wall to eat his sandwich. “How’s the rugrat today?”

“Still kicking. Plus, I only puked once this morning!” She smiled widely at that, and he couldn’t help grinning back.

“Good job, kiddo.”

Her phone pinged, and she took it out of her pocket. She smiled at Dean, “Why did Charlie just tell me I’ll get a new brother-in-law before the baby is born?”

He rolled his eyes and made a mental note to give Charlie hell next time he saw her. “She introduced me to Castiel, and apparently she saw sparks.”

Jess gave him a wary look before she answered. “And what did you see?”

Jess always had a way of seeing through him. “He’s cute.”

She smiled sadly and nodded as if he gave her a confirmation. “Dean,” she took a few steps closer until she could have touched him, “are you okay? We didn’t move out too fast after the wedding, did we?”

The last thing he wanted to do was make Jess worried. She already had enough stress with her job, and he didn’t need to add any more. He fixed on a bright smile. “I’m fine, really.”

She gave him a dubious look but gave in. “We’ll swing by tonight? Bring over dinner?”

“Sounds good.” He gave her a smile and a kiss on the cheek before he went back downstairs to the rig.


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie texted him Saturday morning, his first weekend off in too long. “ _Family dinner. Your house. 7._ ”

“ _No._ ”

“ _Too late handmaiden._ ”

Damnit. “ _Fine. Potluck, I’m not cooking._ ”

“ _Obviously._ ”

He looked at the clock. It was only ten. He sighed and made a pot of coffee to get him through the day. He never kept the apartment a mess, but it was mostly because he was never there. He ran a broom over the hardwood, hid the alcohol in his nightstand, made his bed for the first time in weeks, and did a load of laundry. It was almost one before his stomach grumbled and he realized he’d only had two cups of coffee.

The fridge was still empty, and the only thing in the freezer was a few bags of frozen vegetables that Sam and Jess must have left. He got in his car and picked up a pizza from the place on the corner. At least pizza box would fill up his fridge if he didn’t finish it off.

He called Sam, but when he didn’t pick up, he called Jess. She answered the phone on the first ring, “Hey, what are you up to?”

“Just picked up a pizza.”

Jess let out a moan into the phone and Dean chuckled, “Are you home?”

“Yeah.”

Dean turned the car to head to the suburb on the northside of town where Sam and Jess had moved. “I’ll see you in a minute.”

Dean held the pizza box out as on offering when she answered and she looked like she could have cried in gratitude. “Is Sammy here?” he asked as he toed off his shoes in the foyer.

Jess already had the box open and mumbled around her first slice, “Nah, Charlie called him.” 

“Abusive parents?” he asked, and Jess nodded in confirmation. He shook his head in disgust. Sam worked as a child advocacy attorney, and Charlie always called him in when she suspected abuse of one of her patients. They were a well-oiled machine now, ever since their first case together a few years ago. The girl was eight, half-starved, and had bruises up and down her torso when she came in and Sam put her parents away for child neglect and abuse.  

They sat on the couch in the living room and demolished the pizza, then laid back and watched an episode of Game of Thrones before Sam came home.

“How did it go?” Dean asked him. Sam grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and brought one to him, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry,” Jess told him.

“Did you guys eat an entire pizza?”

“We were hungry!” Dean grinned. “Plus, Jess is eating for two.”

“She’s eating for one and a quarter. The baby does not eat for an entire person. And they should definitely not be eating greasy pizza.”

“It was really good, sweetie,” Jess told him.

“I can’t believe you two are the health professionals here. You both eat like crap.”

Jess put on a pouty face and wrapped herself around Dean who grabbed her right back. “I must have married the wrong brother.” They all laughed.

“You guys are coming over tonight, right?”

“Yeah. I don’t think Charlie would let us get out of it.” Jess said. “She even invited the new guy.”

“Please don’t tell me she is trying to set us up.”

“Okay,” Sam said, “I won’t tell you that.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Well, please tell me you are bringing something good?”

“Lasagna.”

“The one with the meat?”

“The one with the chicken and vegetables.”

Dean sighed. At least it had cheese. He finished his beer as the next episode of Game of Thrones blasted the Fire and Ice song.

He stayed and watched the next episode before heading back home. He stopped at the store and grabbed a few bags of chips and the sour cream dip the Charlie loved. He made it back home in time to take a few long drinks from his flask before Jo and Benny knocked on his door. Benny looked miserable, and Dean gave Jo a knowing look. This would be a long night.

She handed him a couple of bags with take-out containers from the Roadhouse. “Mom sends her love.” Dean smiled, and they set the food on Dean’s unused counters. Sam and Jess came next with the lasagna. Jess and Jo talked about baby presents while Sam and Dean kicked back with beers.

Charlie and Dorothy arrived a little while later, each carrying a six-pack and Castiel trailed behind them, unsure about following them in without being invited to. The man looked just as good out of scrubs as he did in them. Dean wasn’t sure if he should try talking to him again, but Charlie called him over to take the bags of food she and Dorothy were carrying.

He turned and set the bags on the counter and when turned back, Charlie and Dorothy had left a harrowed looking Castiel in the doorway. “You can quit lurking,” Dean told him with a smile.

Castiel handed a bag to him and too a couple steps past the entryway. Dean held the bag up to inspect, trying not to make the situation as awkward as it had been the last time they met. There were premade veggie and fruit trays from the grocery store. Castiel tucked his head down like he was embarrassed, “I do know how to cook. I would have, but Dr. Bradbury only invited me during work today. I hope this is okay.”

He looked a little abashed and Dean made an attempt to put the awkwardness to their first meeting behind them. He put a hand on his shoulder and moved him closer inside the room. “You can call her Charlie, and you got to relax, dude. Have you met everyone?” Castiel looked around the room before his eyes caught on Benny and he shook his head. “That’s Benny, he worked on the rig with me and Jo. He’s pretty great, you’ll like him.”

Castiel looked doubtful at that statement, and Dean reminded him to relax again. “Take your coat off, go talk to someone.”

Castiel nodded and peeled his jacket off like he was separating himself from his last defense. Jess and Jo practically jumped the guy when he started toward the kitchen. Charlie flounced over to Dean, “He’s cute, right?”

“Charlie, why did you bring him?”

“I saw the sparks between you guys at the hospital.”

Dean rolled his eyes, and he wanted to defend himself, but he couldn’t deny it. Castiel was someone Dean really wanted to get to know better. He hated that they were all right. He glanced across the room to where Sam looked like he was trying to get Castiel’s life story and Castiel looked like he would rather be anywhere else in the world. “He looks like a fish out of water! He’s floundering.”

“Shut it, Winchester,” Charlie told him. “Just try and talk to him tonight.”

Dorothy called from the kitchen that the food was ready and Dean saw a stack of real plates that Dean had honestly forgotten he had. Sam and Jess must have left them when they moved.

Charlie waited until everyone had a plate full of food before she pulled out Cards Against Humanity and set it up at the coffee table. “How does this game work?” Castiel asked from behind Dean’s shoulder and Dean turned to give him a questioning look.

“You’ve never played before? What did you do in college?”

“Studied.” The answer was said as though it should have been obvious, like Dean was an idiot for asking.

“You can show him how to play,” Jess said from the couch and Dean almost gave her a bitch face before Castiel said he would appreciate it. He couldn’t say no.

Dean patted the spot next to him on the floor and Castiel sat next cross-legged next to him. Castiel leaned closer to look at the cards in Dean’s hand and Dean got a whiff of the man next to him. Underneath the sanitizing solution the hospital used, be smelled something woodsy and peaceful that he couldn’t place. He smelled amazing, and Dean had to stop himself from taking a full-on sniff. Their knees knocked under the table and Dean worked to keep the blush from his face.

They played the first two hands together until Dean’s turn came up and he made Castiel pick his own hand. He looked constipated by his choice of cards, and he almost seemed relieved that he didn’t win. When it was his turn, Castiel blushed at some of the answers he received and ended up picking the most vanilla answer possible.

They went around the table a few more times before Sam and Dorothy started arguing about whether Trump or Putin was worse and they tried to divide up the table. Dean called quits a few minutes into the argument and started packing up the game. The arguments like this never ended well and they never returned to the game. When it was in the box, Dean grabbed empty plates to take to the kitchen and Castiel followed him.

Dean put the plates in the sink and turned to watch the argument from the bar in the kitchen. Castiel stood next to him and Dean offered him a beer from the fridge. When Castiel turned it down, Dean grabbed a handful of chips and ran them through the dip. “Does this happen often?”

“Just about every game night,” Dean told him. “You get used to it.” He realized it sounded like an invitation for Castiel to stick around and get used to it, and he realized he wouldn’t mind if he did. Castiel looked at him puzzled and he tried to blow it off, “Most of the time, Sammy wins. I guess that’s what makes him such a good lawyer.”

“Yes, he really gave us some great advice about a case at work.”

“I’m glad it helped.” Dean glanced back at him and caught his eyes again. Castiel had a way of looking at Dean like he was looking into Dean’s soul, not just his eyes. It made Dean feel happy in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time, and he stared right back.

They didn’t even notice the argument ending, or Jo coming into the kitchen. Dean jumped when her hand fell on his shoulder and she laughed, “Slow down there tiger, I’m just saying bye.”

He blinked. “You’re leaving?”

“Yeah, I’m taking Benny home, he’s not doing too well.”

Dean looked back out to the living room and saw his buddy looking too overwhelmed at the conversation around him. Dean nodded and told her to take care of him and when they left, he walked back out to the living room. “So, another game?”

Charlie jumped up from her seat, “Lets play charades!”

They divided up into teams, boys against girls. Dean when first and acted driving and flying. “Batman!” Sam yelled, while Castiel just looked lost.

Jess went next and pointed to the kitchen, her stomach, and stuck up her nose with a finger. “Pot-bellied pig?” Dorothy asked.

They guessed through Sam’s Harry Potter, and Dorothy’s scarecrow before Castiel walked to the front of them. He made a confused face and then looked around the room like a rabbit caught in a trap. “Hey, buddy you okay?”

Castiel gave him a desperate look and nodded before he took a few staggering steps and dropped like he was dead. “Um, is that his clue?” Sam asked and Dean smiled when Castiel nodded from his dead-man position on the floor.

“A dead guy?” Dean asked.

“A drunk guy?” Sam asked. No response.

The seconds ticked down and Charlie finally said, “Time up.”

Cas got to his feet, blush spread across his cheeks. He handed his paper to Dean. _Belladonna_.

Dean smiled and showed the paper to the rest of the team. “The porn star, dude. Not the plant.” Dean told him.

“Oh, I didn’t know there was an actress with that name.”

“I have some of her finest work if you want to watch!” Charlie chirped up happily, and Castiel blushed a dark crimson.

“No, thank you though.” Castiel tried to excuse himself politely. Charlie shrugged.

“Will you all stop teasing him?” Jess said from across the room, and even though Charlie didn’t have enough sense to at least look shamed, her wife apologized for her. Castiel gave a shy smile back.

Charlie looked like she couldn’t stop herself when she said, “Let’s get real though, I do have a question. I don’t get a gay vibe from you, but I don’t get a straight vibe from you either. What’s your deal?”

“My deal?”

Dean hated putting him on the spot, so he spoke up. “You don’t have to answer that.”

“Yes he does!” Charlie protested. “I want to know it was worth organizing this to set you two up.”

Dean blanched and Dorothy tugged on her wife’s arm, “Babe, how much did you have to drink?”

Castiel looked uncomfortable, but spoke up anyway. “It’s okay. I usually don’t explain because a lot of people are confused about me, but I don’t mind explaining.” He took a drink of the bottle of coke in front of him before continuing, “I have had boyfriends and girlfriends in the past, I just don’t enjoy physical intimacy unless I know them very well and already have a strong romantic connection.”

“So everyone you turned down at the hospital?”

“They wanted sex, and I couldn’t give them what they wanted.”

It made sense to Dean. He’d practically described the same thing to Sam at the bar. Sam turned to him with a knowing look and said, “Sounds like someone else I know,” under his breath. Dean swallowed hard and tried to decide if he wanted Castiel to have heard that or not.

Across the room, Charlie looked baffled. “Everyone wants sex,” she said in her confused voice and Dorothy tried to shut her up.

“Apparently not, babe.”

Castiel looked uncomfortable again and Dean wasn’t even sure he heard Sam. Jess looked down at her phone and over at her husband. “It’s getting pretty late and the baby is getting sleepy.”

“The baby is?” Sam joked back and Dean still couldn’t get over how adorable they were.

Jess stood up, “Yes, the baby is.” Dean stood and gave them hugs and then Dorothy stood too.

“Babe, I got to get to the hospital soon too.”

Charlie groaned. “Why did I plan this for a night you had a night shift.”

Dean gave them hugs to and Dorothy moved to the kitchen to put the rest of the food away. Dean gave Castiel a smile and a wave, not quite sure what to say as a goodbye. He walked back to his bedroom while they all let themselves out and changed for bed. He came back out in boxer-briefs and an undershirt and stopped when he saw Castiel standing at the sink doing dishes.

“Did they leave you here?” Dean asked.

“No, we came separately. They mentioned they hated leaving you with all the dishes when they left, so I figured I would stay and finish them.”

Charlie. He was going to kill her for setting him up like this. “Man, you don’t have to do my dishes. Go sit down.”

“It would feel highly inappropriate to do nothing while you are working.”

Dean sighed and Castiel looked at him, eyes taking in his state of undress. Castiel blushed a little and the sight of it made Dean smile. “Man, just go pick out a movie. You didn’t seem to get many of the references tonight. I’ll educate you.”

Castiel glared at him for a minute like he was questioning debating Dean about it, but he finally wiped his hands on the dish towel under the sink and moved out of the way.

Dean talked to Castiel behind his back as Castiel searched through the movies. “I’m sorry they cornered you like that.”

“It is not the first time I’ve been questioned about my sexuality. It is okay. What about Die Hard? I’ve never seen it.”

“Yeah, sure, that one’s great.”

Castiel was quiet as the commercials played on the television, and Dean must have forgotten the ending because this wasn’t what he remembered at the beginning of the movie. He drained the water after his last dish and ran the garbage disposal to clean out the sink.

That was when he heard the panting coming from the other room. He spun on one heel to look at the TV and in a flash he remembered he hid his porn in his movie collection when Sam and Jess still lived there. He must have forgotten this one.

Cas turned to look at him, confusion written on his face. “If the pizza man truly loves the babysitter, why does he keep slapping her rear?” He gave Dean such an honest, open look that Dean could help smiling.

“You’ve never watched porn before,” Dean said more to himself than to the other man, but Castiel shook his head anyway as Dean walked to him. “He’s spanking her. Some people are turned on by it.”

“Right, of course. People are turned on by some interesting things.”

Dean huffed out a laugh and sat down on the other end of the couch, “Yeah, ain’t that the truth.”

Castiel sounded almost clinical when he asked, “Are you turned on by it?”

Dean squirmed in his seat as he answered, “Sure man, you know how it is. Sometimes you like one thing and sometimes you want something different.”

“What did Sam mean earlier? When he said you sounded like me.”

Shit, he did hear. Dean turned in the seat to face Castiel and the man looked at him earnestly. “I just,  uh…” he trailed off and tried to collect his thoughts before continuing. “I guess I just think that sex should be more. I just can’t do it if there isn’t some stronger connection.”

He stopped when he saw Castiel’s smile. “You’re on the spectrum too?” Castiel looked elated, like he finally found someone he could connect to.

“The spectrum? Like autism?”

Relaxing a little, Castiel leaned closer to Dean. “No, the ace spectrum. Like I am asexual, but I enjoy romance with people.”

Dean had never heard of that before, and apparently his face showed it. Castiel scooted across the couch toward Dean. “I don’t have sex with people. But I still go on dates and I am intimate with people.”

“That’s a thing?” Dean asked and watched Castiel give a small nod. It sounded like heaven not to have every date build up to an expectation of sex. It sounded so unlike everything he’d heard about relationships. He thought back to all the times he thought there was something wrong with him for not wanting it, but this, apparently, was a thing.

He realized he’d been staring at Castiel and glanced away at the TV. The pizza man was stripping the babysitter now, condom already on and ready to go. If it made him slightly uncomfortable, he wondered what Castiel was thinking about it, and he reached for the remote to turn it off.

“It is interesting seeing what people are attracted to,” Castiel said from beside him. “It’s almost like an anthropological study, watching this.”

“It doesn’t weird you out?”

Castiel shook his head, “No, I’m not sex averse, I’m just not sexually attracted to people. It’s interesting to watch this.”

Dean’s finger lingered over the remote’s power button and he asked, “Do you want to keep watching it?”

“No,” Castiel told him, determination in his voice. “I’d rather continue our conversation.”

Dean pressed the power button and turned sideways on the couch to face Castiel head-on. “So, Cas… can I call you Cas?” He waited for Castiel’s nod before continuing, “Tell me about your family.”

“Umm, I have a brother I’m close to. He runs a bakery downtown.”

“Oh yeah, which one?”

“Got Crossed Buns? He makes… adult sweets.”

Dean raised his eyebrows. “Is he your only sibling?”

“No I have lots of siblings, but I have a sister I’m close to as well, Anna. She’s a dancer.”

“Wow. Where is the rest of your family?”

“I assume they are still back on the farm. We don’t keep in contact.”

Dean didn’t question his family anymore and instead asked a less personal question. “Did you have fun tonight?”

Cas smiled again. “Yes, Dean. Tonight was very enjoyable.”

“Do you want to watch an actual movie with me now?” Dean glanced at the black screen of the TV.

Cas glanced back at the door, as if he was considering making an exit, but said, “That sounds great.”

They decided on _A New Hope_ , although Cas was confused why they would start with Episode IV rather than Episode I, and Dean figured out ten minutes into his rant that Cas didn’t actually care.

Dean could quote every line of the movie, so instead of watching it, he watched Cas watch it. They moved closer during the film, their hands bridging the distance until their fingertips touched. Dean glanced back to the movie when Cas didn’t pull away, and after a minute, he turned his hand over to fit into Cas’.

A little smile pooled at the corner of Cas’ mouth and Dean rubbed a thumb across the back of Cas’ hand.

It was nice not having any pressure to move the night along. They sat and finished the movie, no more touching than a bump of shoulders or knees when one of them moved. The night didn’t feel like it was leading up to anything, it was just two new friends getting to know each other better.

When the movie ended, Cas told Dean he really should go. They stood up and Dean walked him to the door. Cas hesitated for just a second when Dean pulled the door open and then embraced Dean in a hug. It was a full-force hug too and nearly knocked the breath out of him. Dean didn’t even remember the last time he had a hug like that, and he let go of the door to hug back. Neither of them moved in for a kiss, it was just an embrace, but it made Dean feel whole again. Like something had been missing from his life. The hug was the most intimate with another person Dean had been in too long to remember.

Cas rested his head on Dean’s shoulder like he didn’t want the hug to end. Dean pulled him closer and held onto him more firmly. He breathed in Cas’ deep, woody sent and if heaven were to have a smell, this would be it.

It seemed like forever before they broke apart. Dean smiled at him and told him to have a good night, and Cas was almost out the door when Dean stopped him. “Wait, uh, do you want to watch the next one?”

Cas raised an eyebrow in surprise and one end of his lips curled into a little smile. “Are you sure?”

“Uh, I mean, I don’t have to work tomorrow, I don’t know about you, but I can stay up late tonight.”

Cas gave him a full-on smile. “Dr. Bradbury insisted that I take the day off tomorrow. I could stay for another movie.”

Dean could kill Charlie over planning this all out if he wasn’t so happy. He tried to keep a smile off his face as he reached out for Cas’ hand and pulled him back into the apartment.

This time, they didn’t bother with personal space, and they sat pressed together on the couch, Dean’s arm around Cas’ shoulder. When Cas fell asleep on his shoulder, Dean smiled, happy for once at the physical presence of the man against his side. He didn’t last much longer, and before he knew it, he woke up laying on the couch with Castiel pressed against his back and the TV on the home screen.

He didn’t even realize until later that it was the first time he hadn’t needed alcohol to go to sleep since Sam and Jess moved out.


End file.
